Join in 7 seconds.. Existing users: sign in.

all forums, active | friendly talkzone, travel tips, visa & paperwork, renting, selling & meetups, politics & the war, espanol

For Foreigners living in Colombia

I know it's a personal question but I'm just curious. How do you support yourself in Colombia? Do you work? have a business? live out of a pension? if you want can you afford to go back even for Holidays to your country of origin or other countries? does your partner work?

By kat1 (Moderator) on Mar 28, 2008, 14:15 in Friendly Talkzone.

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:16:

bump

engage brain before opening mouth

robi666 says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:17:

If I wanted to work I would not be living in Colombia.

"I am a citizen of the most beautiful nation on earth. A nation whose laws are harsh yet simple, a nation that never cheats, which is immense and without borders, where life is lived in the present."

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:19:

that means you got a pension or a business with that Irish guy heheheh

engage brain before opening mouth

tejasmarcos says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:21:

i'm a double agent spy - shhhhhhhhhh!

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

jonas says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:22:

I own an import business but due to extreme protectionism and bureaucracy it has not gotten me rich yet but steadily improving (especially with the ever stronger peso). I play the commodities market which has produced gains that allow me to live well. I am looking into taking my girlfriend on vacation to Europe this year. She does have a decent job and we pretty much split costs.

What I have, I do not want to lose, but Where I am I do not want to stay, but those I love, I do not want to leave, but those I know I no longer want to see, but Where I die, I do not want to go;I want to stay where I have never been

robi666 says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:22:

No pension. It is just that I have been working hard ten years, than I though the world was too big and life too short to be working more.
Business with that Irish guy? To do what? Loose money?

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:23:

Who hid the keys to the secret vault??? this selling peanuts on the corner is getting old....

Juanes says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:25:

soy una limpiadora y me encanta para limpiar las casitas muy bien todos los dias papi.

and before you ask, my name is not elmodofoque.

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

tejasmarcos says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:25:

i live off a small amount of monthly interest income and personal savings.

i am working on opportunities to make income in colombia now.

i will return back to the states once or twice this year for short periods of time.

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

robi666 says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:26:

LOL, you may get a good contract cleaning Ray's house. You're his kind.

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:27:

MANI, MANI, MANI..........MANI, MANI.....4mil pesos........mani, mani, mani.......

MaFe says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:28:

Ja Ja Juanes...good one!

My aunt lives off her pension in Colombia, and it two years will also be receiving social security.

"All human actions have one or more of these seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions, habit, reason, passion, desire. "-Aristotle

Juanes says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:29:

or sometimes i just stand around in central bogota close to el museo del oro but no one hardly gives me pesitos and are mostly miserable.

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

Juanes says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:30:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

Chriscan says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:32:

I drive a cab in Canada but I plan on working in Colombia this fall.

************* WARNING ************* my words often come from my ass

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:35:

hahahah....we got those in Hawaii too....the people robots down in waikiki.... freakn out all the tourists.. something erry about the mimes, carneys and midgets....... smell like cabbage.... small hands (something like that from austin powers)

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:35:

LOL Juanes
has the falling of dollar been affecting the way you live?

engage brain before opening mouth

dolphinz says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:39:

seriously, do you guys know of any foreigners working in professional jobs (finance, lawyers, engineers...) in Colombia?

Juanes says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:42:

no not really kat. i get two abraham lincolns to one queen of england so im not affected at all. i had savings actually when i was in colombia for 3 months cos the english pound goes far and there is no need to work, just relax y disfruta..

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:42:

I know some but they don't post in PBH, i think they don't know the existence of PBH

engage brain before opening mouth

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:43:

I don't know anyone that works in colombia. They are all too concerned about their 2 hour lunch and paid holidays to work.......that's gotta be real stressful for them.

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:47:

One of them was my mum's boss this was before my mum became a lawyer, and she said it was one of the best bosses she had, she used to work for a well know company, and yes he lived very well in Colombia with a very wealthy salary

engage brain before opening mouth

paulr says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:50:

I´m working as a website designer and have quite a few websites for clients in England that need updating constantly which brings me an income but i am feeling the pinch of the strong Peso at the moment.

Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 14:56:

that's interesting paulr, we have a company here in the UK, we used to do websites but we got bored, everybody is doing websites here even kids and the pay is little, so we are just concentrating in streaming, we have good clients. saying that we were offered to do a job in Colombia a website with an streaming video, but we declined, we told the guy it would be cheaper to get someone local... as they need to pay the hosting, travelling, etc for them this will come out more expensive, we have inquiries even from the USA but again we tell them the same unless of course they don't mind paying traveling expenses. although we have been doing Europe.

engage brain before opening mouth

paulr says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:10:

If you get a couple of good clients, you´re basically set up for life if you work alone and have no expenses. I´m in the process of starting a business here but not sure if it´s a great idea, i´ve been doing a little soul searching after a long spell doing nothing but working and really don´t want to be sitting in front of a computer screen every day. I obviously can´t charge people as much for a website here than i do at home so i think i would find it a bit stressful after a while, adding to getting information off people and chasing money.

Unless you have your own server, hosting streaming would be very expensive. www.hostgator.com do good deals on that, also reseller hosting accounts are good value for money.

Life is like a ten-speed bicycle. Most of us have gears we never use.

jonas says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:13:

"streaming" is that live porn?

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:15:

you can stream porn if you want to.. but we don't do that.. we specialized in broadcasting conferences

engage brain before opening mouth

Bill Turley says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:16:

I worked for the first several years here. I was a teache at first then Coodinator and finally Rector. Now it is a pension income from the US

Mr. Bill Somondoco

jonas says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:17:

I WOULD LOVE TO HAHAHA

kat1 (Moderator) says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:20:

we do Webcast & Web TV production, Live webcasting,Conference recording to CD\DVD\web, Video production services & IPTV

In none of them we do porn sorry

you can do that Jonas :)))

engage brain before opening mouth

bogotabrian says on Mar 28, 2008, 15:45:

Hi Kat! Like a lot of us here probably, I teach. Unlike many teachers who teach English, I teach math. I also own a hostel in Parque Lleras but that doesn't open until March 1st. Before that I worked in the electronics industry in California as an engineer and then finally upper mid management at Siemens before I gave it up to move here.

adrienne79 says on Mar 28, 2008, 18:27:

I teach here, too. I am a Science teacher (but in English at a bilingual school.) The first few months I didn't have many bills to pay because we were living with my in-laws. But once I got a steady fully time job we got our own place and I try to live off only my peso income. I have savings as a fall back but I have not spent any dollars since Christmas and that was just because I wanted to buy things online to ship to my family and had to use my US credit cards. My husband has a pretty good job but we try to split things evenly. Now I did go in debt to my husband a tad bit because I really don't feel like changing dollars with such a low rate but I am pretty much caught up now that I am getting the monthly payment. He doesn't really care though. You now, it is amazing how little Colombians get paid but what is even more amazing is how little it cost to live a decent life here. I'm only 28 and I do have a small pension and 401k that I do plan to take advantage of when I am old enough without paying penalties.Also, I try not to dip into my American savings because it is earning 5% interest right now so seeing how fast it is growing is quite nice. I love traveling so I do imagine I might have to occassionally dip into the dollars for flights. For example, we are hoping to fly to Peru in Dec. for three weeks but we are using our US tax retun and the tax "bonus" we qualify for that is arriving this summer.

jorgegdiaz says on Mar 28, 2008, 18:34:

I had some foreigner teachers while at college. They were on an "asignment" from Unesco or USAID to work in 3rd world countries. They were prtty darn good. They got the University´s salary and the agencie´s salary. Sweet deal for them.

I worked for Siemens too Brian. Have you tried to work for them in Bogota?

Man with hole in pocket feel cocky all day.

nine inch nails says on Mar 28, 2008, 22:10:

Think every day about cashing it all in and moving to CO but with most of my assets tied up in real estate wouldn't be that much. 2 yrs. ago yes but now poco. kickin myself but very fortunately I invested before the run up so at least not upside down.

Living in South Florida as beautiful as it is hard to save much since cost of living so high.

Really bummin I can't afford the Ultra Music Fest. day 2 tom. in Miami. The ticket doable but even a two star hotel close to $200/night and almost all sold out. Ludicrous!

get down, get down

nine inch nails says on Mar 28, 2008, 22:12:

Oooooh Kat such a pretty outfit!

get down, get down

tomtom33 says on Mar 29, 2008, 03:48:

Work? I am a recovering workaholic. I have not worked for 9 years now and have no plans to ever do so again.

My novia works to support her kids, but social workers don't make much in Colombia. So we have started a couple of business ventures for her. She has a laundry business and did have an auto repair shop. We have also been messing around with real estate.

If I needed to work, I sure as hell wouldn't be in Colombia.

NataliaV says on Mar 29, 2008, 06:20:

My husband and I have been toying with the idea of moving to colombia in the coming years, but are not sure of how to do it. Does anyone have any experience in buying real estate to rent to generate monthly income? My husband thinks this would be the best way to live over there and leave our dollars in a savings account for real retirement. What is a comfortable monthly income for a foreigner to live off?

tejasmarcos says on Mar 29, 2008, 06:34:

get ready for a whole new thread on that question, natalia. good question, though...

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

adrienne79 says on Mar 29, 2008, 07:02:

Natalia, I think the first issue to look at is what city will you live in. Just like the US every city has a different cost of living.

NataliaV says on Mar 29, 2008, 07:32:

I would say Cali. The majority of my family lives there and it is where I'm most comfortable.

tomtom33 says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:02:

I have one rental in Cartagena and will soon have more in Medellín where I live. There are a number of us here that have rentals.

Comfortable varies greatly depending upon your needs/wants. Many Colombian families get by on 1 million per month or less. I live in estrato 4 and would guesstimate that I'd need 4 or 5 million to be very comfortable.

NataliaV says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:12:

Thanks tomtom. This is a relatively new idea, but I guess I should begin gathering as much info as possible. Do you work in Medellin?

robi666 says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:16:

Natalia, on a more serious note, think about making 6% per year (going down) on a good property. Without considering the appreciation, of course.
If you rent for many years, the rent follow the inflation, by law.

It is very hard to answer your question about living comfortable. It depends on the meaning of that and your actual lifestyle.
I would say, think about making the same lifestyle at half of the price.
But, still, there are things that are morte expensive in Colombia, like cars.

tomtom33 says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:21:

No, I don't work. I am retired.

tomtom33 says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:24:

Speaking of where to look, my novia likes the oriente. Her kids live in Guarne, and she is high on that area.

tejasmarcos says on Mar 29, 2008, 08:30:

madman style baby.......

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

docwilliam says on Mar 29, 2008, 09:05:

I have a Pension and my only job is taking care of my two kids.

RAAAY, that is too funny Dude. What do you drive these tourists around in?

"There's no time to panic"

tejasmarcos says on Mar 29, 2008, 09:08:

in what else,

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

the flymobile....

my glass is getting shorter on whiskey, ice and water...

RAAAY says on Mar 29, 2008, 09:10:

I drive them around on bicycles.............The American Gringo has no concerns about " safety "..............and they seem to enjoy whizzing down the hills after we do our Barrio trips.

As they are all American, they are in great shape and love the added exercise.

.

.

.........Its useless to argue with ignorance

docwilliam says on Mar 29, 2008, 09:20:

Hey TJ, i think those Cadiiiis have been reclassified as trucks.

"There's no time to panic"

nueva york bombero says on Mar 29, 2008, 09:55:

Looks like Key West!!!!

Saltador says on Mar 29, 2008, 13:28:

Doubtful that picture was taken in Colombia. But, then again that's not really important.

nine inch nails says on Mar 29, 2008, 20:54:

I vote Pennsylvania looking at the dark trees foliage.

get down, get down

Man Tequila says on Mar 29, 2008, 21:03:

Well, I have to admit Raaay made me chuckle. How do these gringo tourists react if you try to add cheese to their bedtime hot chocolate?

Aunque no me creas/ si me lo propongo/ lograre olvidarte/ porque a fin de cuentas/ no soy tan cobarde./ Y termino todo una de estas tardes/ no sera dificil buscar algún sitio donde refugiarme/ donde nunca mas vuelvas a encontrarme. (Polo Montañez)

goin_south says on Mar 29, 2008, 23:55:

dollars? or pesos?
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

.
..
.
.
don't answa... rubi.. I know.

and, thank you.

goin_south says on Mar 29, 2008, 23:59:

but, for a guy who is so non-materialistic... that's pretty dang judgemental.
a bum could live FOREVAAAAA.. EN BOGOTA.... on a lot less.

So, I'm guessin you're talking to 'the elite'.

and, thank you.

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 30, 2008, 21:49:

I love ya GS, you know this..and your' welcome in my homes..... youve seen the pics....and 1.5 doesn't even pay the admin. for 1 apto...... there is big money in colombia..... many people don't know this...

RAAAY says on Mar 30, 2008, 21:56:

Frank.........to right.........

I stopped in that burger restaurant on the way into Oviedo mall yesterday. Two guys were just picking up their food. I said to the young lady that I'd have the same. Some sort of burger, fries and a coke. Theirs looked nice.

Anyway.......total cost for me.........One burger...one fries...one medium coke .....20,800. Served in paper and plastic containers. I thought she was making a mistake.

Darn place was packed. There's a lot of money here alright. Make no mistake.

.

.........Its useless to argue with ignorance

Man Tequila says on Mar 30, 2008, 22:02:

Might even be bigger money than a ten dollar burger...

Frank Rizzo says on Mar 30, 2008, 22:08:

No matter where the economy goes....if you stay very high end...there is always a market for anything.....but i'ts gotta be backed up...with the highest quality..... poor economy equals a rush to wal-mart and a rush to quality by the rich....

RAAY.....we're growing a cow in Yumbo...(outside cali) now......if you want contact AB....and you can get in....basically...we're cutting filet's and baby beef's....and grinding the rest into hamburgers.....1 cow a year....and ....the owner is a friend of mine...so it's all at cost....the same beef that Lenos and El Carbon...give you for 15 mil pesos...1/2 pound burgers...frozen.....

Get a big freezer....if you want it to make sense (cents).......i don''t mind frozen meat ....but some like it fresh......AB' will have all the details...this week..

Juanes says on Mar 31, 2008, 04:36:

aye caramba ray, que costoso por una hamburgesa, papas y un referesco papi !

what you getting to the US dollar at present ray ? in 2007 i remember getting around 2165-2200 and for the pound maybe 3750-3895......its changing the other way presently right ?

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Juanes/